Evangelos Venizelos

The financial crisis that brought down the leaders of both Greece and Italy is not finished with the nations yet. The two Mediterranean states must now focus on who will lead their new governments through the turmoil of their debt crises.

Greece's drama on the international stage continued on Friday as a confidence vote, scheduled for later in the day, could end its prime minister's career whatever its outcome. Sources in Athens said that George Papandreou, acknowledging that his call earlier in the week for a referendum on the country's newest...

Prime Minister George Papandreou pledged to European leaders on a trip to Berlin on Tuesday that Greece would pass the latest round of austerity measures required for Athens to receive the latest round of funding its rescue package.

The Greeks and bailout officials also cannot agree on the amount by which Greece has failed to meet its targets, with Athens perhaps predictably citing a lower figure than the international representatives.

Swaps of existing Greek bonds for new ones with longer maturity dates will cost private bondholders 21%, according to Greece's deputy finance minister, who said Tuesday that exchanges for the new debt instruments would begin in August.

In the course of shuffling his Cabinet on Friday, Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou sacrificed his finance minister, George Papaconstantinou. In Papaconstantinou's place the prime minister appointed his own chief rival in the Socialist Party, Defense Minister Evangelos Venizelos.